Why Sachin should retire.

Bear in mind that Tendulkar had had a poor season by his standards. He had scored no centuries, played no decisive match-saving innings, fought no heroic rearguard actions. His average over the eight tests was 35, twenty runs below his career average.

Dravid averaged nearly 47 in the same period and retired. Dravid made it clear that he had decided to retire after the Australian tour well before the tour began but there can be no doubt that the Australian series underlined the fact that this was the right time to go. Dravid averaged 24. At the end of the tour, he called a press conference, acknowledged his fading form, spoke movingly about how much cricket had meant to him and retired from the game as true sports-person.

While Tendulkar travelled to Bangladesh in search of his elusive hundredth international hundred. There were a series of press conferences and public events starring Tendulkar immediately after his ‘hundredth hundred’ at Mirpur.
In none of them did Tendulkar spend much time on the fact that
a) India actually lost to Bangladesh
b) that one of the reasons India lost was that Tendulkar was so focused on getting his hundred that his run-rate dropped as he approached this landmark leaving the team short of the 300+ target that was there for the taking and
c) that India was eliminated from the tournament before the final.

Asked about retirement he suggested that it would be unpatriotic for him to retire: “When you are at the top, you should serve the nation. When I feel I am not in a frame of mind to contribute to nation, that’s when I should retire not when somebody says. That’s a selfish statement that one should retire on top.” But Tendulkar isn’t merely a great player; he is the greatest human brand in the history of Indian advertising. So many corporations have so much riding on him that his career can’t be allowed to end like Dravid’s: it has to be talked up and eked out and wrung dry so that it gives them a fair return on their investment.

Tendulkar’s unwillingness to share responsibility for defeat (in an interview he attributed the whitewash in Australia to the absence of big opening partnerships) and the uncharacteristic way in which he milked the Mirpur hundred seemed like a case of individual and corporate anxiety merging and, in concert, trying to make the most of what was left.

Now if he scores another 100 in One Day, and its round to 50 ODI Hundred's, Again Media will start celebrating him, How Shame, Media and Sachin, try to hide the fact, how INDIA lost the match due to him, and blame it on others.

Once again Welcome to all for another shameless "The Greatest SportPerson".